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The metal gig series sponsored by The Headbanger’s Ball of The Finnish MTV continued when the hotter than hell name Trivium arrived at Finland with the legendary Annihilator and the newbie group Sanctity. The gig was originally supposed to take a place in the prestigious Nosturi club, but due to excessive ticket sales and the massive success of trendy Trivium the whole package had to be taken to a bigger venue in Helsinki. The Nosturi club is a real idealistic asskicking place for all kinds of metal gigs, but The House Of Culture ain’t the most suitable venue for these kinds of events as the construction of the concert hall creates a terrible echo tormenting the ears and causing pretty distorted sound making the concert and listening experience more than unpleasant.

The night when the old and new school collided was started by a young and at least entire new acquaintance for the Finnish crowd named Sanctity. The four piece had their debut album out on RoadRunner and it is pretty much obvious that getting the supporter slot for Trivium was more or less expected.

As for the performance of this four piece from Asheville, NC, the long red haired guitarist/vocalist is reminiscent of the early days of Metallica’s James Hetfield as he stands with his skinny body behind the mic, banging his tremendous hair mop and holds his guitar like Hetflied does…or has done.

The guitarist attempted to encourage the peaceful crowd to have more action as the people rather kept standing and starring at the pretty unknown groups. But he definitely appeared to be full of energy with the Jack Black of School Of Rock look. Whereas the bassist looked more like he wouldn’t have fit to the group that perfectly because of the more hard core bald hair style and tattoos all around. However, the young thrashers handled the gig with a solid attitude and grip. Unfortunately being the opening band of the night didn’t give a fair impression of the band’s material off their debut album. Obviously the debut needs to be picked to better check them out.

The Canadian long time metallers Annihilator led by Jeff Waters had undergone some line-up changes before embarking on the Euro tour as a supported for Trivium. All right some could complain and cry why Annihilator was in the supporter slot for Trivium. The reality is cold as hell even to true metalheads. Trivium just happens to be damn popular amongst young kids. Supporting Trivium is definitely a good chance for Annihilator to expand the fanbase and promote the new album to the new and above all young crowd. Apparently they have managed to obtain some new fans on the tour as album sales had gone up a little. Several old school maniacs had arrived to testify Waters and company in action after an insane long break. It took an amazing 16 years for Waters to return to Finland. Back in 1991 Annihilator shared the stage with Judas Priest and Pantera in front of, believe it or not, hardly 2000 people who crawled to see that show back in the day.

The night’s gig was kicked off with “Operation Annihilation” sung by Jeff himself from the latest METAL album. It was immediately followed by “Clown” and “The Blackest Day”. Since the beginning it was more obvious who was the leading man in the stage. Jeff handled the talking and all the mandatory show man role.

The vocalist Padden looks like some kind nice neighbour kid, but the man has been criticized for one reason or another quite severely during these years even though having handled his duty more or less fine. Both Padden and Waters shared both the guitar playing and singing equally during the short 45 minute set.

The young and above all relentless bassist turned out to be a real wild stage man who had obviously enjoyed being on the stage with his own childhood fave ones and having the nice long trip in Europe. Whereas the drummer didn’t bring any vibes and was quite faceless behind the drum battery.

The expected surprise of the night was testified when Alexi Laiho from Children Of Bodom and Trivium’s guitarist Corey Beaulieu entered as special guests to play “King Of The Kill”. Of course the domestic audience was entirely spellbound by Laiho’s appearance on the stage.

As to the setlist, it was created to cover the stuff from several albums. The most interesting classic legendary ALICE IN HELL album didn’t dominate the whole list. But “Alison Hell” however concluded the set and the Sanctity vocalist made a short visit dropping mandatory background growling.

Operation Annihilation Clown Parade The Blackest Day King of the Kill Never, NeverlandRefresh the Demon Set the World on Fire The Fun Palace Alison Hell

Before Trivium hit the stage some minor but noticeable changes happened in the audience during the break time. Some true old school fans left the venue just in time to be able to catch Kamelot which happened to br playing on the other side of Helsinki on the very same day! Good planning indeed. Instead more young kids with their hilarious emo style arrived to see Trivium when the Canadian thrashers were finishing their set.

The Trivium guys have metamorphosed the ultimate metal look since their teen boy band look. All the guys, apart from the drummer, have grown long hair and the vocalist Matt healey has got more tattooes in his arms. Tight pants and ripped shirts, obviously they try to get rid of this emo look which has got kind of embrassing and ridiculous aspects.

The band kicked off the set off with the material off THE CRUSADE album and continued with the older material. The one hour set consisted of the stuff taken from the three full length albums and even from the first EP.

This may cause some headache for troo metalheads as Matt introduced “Ignition” as a thrash song. All right, some songs may have some Metallica influenced thrash riffs, but all these obnoxious clean parts in songs are and sound horrible ruining the base idea of the song. However Trivium has been compared to the older Metallica stuff, especially the Master era.

For some reason the audience’s reaction wasn’t that enthusiastic even though the kids on the floor tried to arrange some kind of pit. Well Matt spun his finger as a mark to the audience to arrange a circle pit, but…well there was some kind of pit going in the middle of the audience. But it looked more like kids were running against each other and falling down on the floor like dead flies. Obviously they should take some lesson by watching some educational “how to arrange circle pits” video in order to be able to arrange a certain decent looking one.

The band was on fire and the stage performance was tight. Yes they are indeed damn energic on the stage. And there is no reason to bash them as far as this gig is concerned even though it is a common phenomena to detest these young guys. The guys handled the gig like any other metal band.

Entrance Of The ConflagrationDetonationEmber To InfernoLike Light To The FliesRainTo The RatsUnrepentantRequiemTread The FloodsDying In Your ArmsDrowned And Torn AsunderAscendancyIgnitionAnthem (We Are The Fire)A Gunshot To The Head Of TrepidationPull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr